Flood Leaves 300 Homeless as 60 Houses Collapse in Ebonyi Community
Residents of Amaegbu community in Akaeze, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, are counting their losses after a devastating flood destroyed dozens of homes and forced about 300 people from their houses.
The flooding began on Tuesday, damaging at least 60 houses, farmlands and personal belongings estimated to be worth millions of naira.
Children and adults were among those left without shelter as floodwaters swept through parts of the community.
A resident, Chief Michael Uzor, said he lost his farmlands, television sets, vehicles, certificates and other valuables to the disaster.
“Many houses were demolished in this axis and more houses are collapsing as a result of the flooding.
In this particular place, Ndi Ibezeukwu, over 20 houses have fallen down since Tuesday this disaster started,” Uzor said.
He appealed to the federal, state and local governments to urgently assist families affected by the flood, noting that many residents had been left homeless.
Another victim, Mrs Joy Chikezie, said the extent of the destruction had made it difficult to determine the exact number of houses affected in her area.
“As you can see, many houses are down here. You can’t count the number of houses that have been destroyed by this disaster. We are homeless now and our farmlands have been destroyed too. The losses are enormous. We are sad, we are helpless, we need assistance,” she said.
Secretary of Amaegbu community, Prince Ette, said more than 50 houses had already been destroyed, describing the situation as devastating.
“We are devastated, we are in pains because the damage the flood caused us is much. Some people didn’t salvage any item from the disaster,” Ette said.
Amid the destruction, the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, donated N5 million to assist affected residents.
Odii, who was represented during a visit to the community by the state PDP Chairman, Chief Chukwuma Igwe, said the donation was intended to help families cope with the immediate effects of the disaster.
Igwe said more than 54 families had been affected in the area visited, adding that other parts of the community had also suffered losses.
“We came to tell you that what happened to you also happened to us; we are all affected by this disaster,” he said.
He added that Odii would provide further assistance to the affected residents.
The PDP candidate for Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo Federal Constituency, Chief Felix Igboke, also visited the community and described the flooding as unfortunate.
Igboke said improved drainage systems and other environmental measures would be necessary to reduce the risk of future flooding.
He pledged to prioritise drainage infrastructure and other measures to address flooding in the constituency if elected.
